Street-indicator for railway-cars



DE ELLA B. MAYBERRY. STREET m'mcuon FOR RAILWAY CABS.

APPLICATION FILED oEc.'16. 1918. f 1 ,382,845, Patented June 28, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHET 1.

, v INVENTOR. WIZ'NESSES: g z' afl. I &6) fi&.146@4 By M r Q a Q 2 ATTORNEY? DE ELLA B. MAYBERRY. STREET INDl-CATOR FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPL'ICATION FILED DEC. 18, 1918.

3,882,845 Patented June 28, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- II b Q WI TNESSES:

UNITED STATB PATENT orrlcs.

DE ELLA B. MAYBEERY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH T0 JOHN W. HARRISON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STREET-INDICATOR FOR RAILKVAY-CARS.

Application filed December 18, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, Dn ELLA B. Mar nanny, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street Indicators for Railway Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in street indicators for railway cars, the same being especially designed for use in connection with electrically operated trolley cars. The object of the invention is the production of a device of this character through the medium of which streets 01" stations traversed by the car in the travel thereof along its route will be automatically indicated to the passengers of the car without the necessity of the conductor calling the same, as is now the practice. A. further object is the production of a device of this character, which will be of durable and economical construction and highly eflicient in use.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which,

Figure 1, is a partially sectional side elevation of one end of a railway car equipped with an indicator, embodying the invention,

Fig. 2, an enlarged sectional view of the traveling apron and clutch cooperating therewith,

Fig. 3, a perspective view of one of the stops provided upon the trolley wire for effecting operation of the indicator apron, and

Fig. i, a perspective view of a slotted table which cooperates with the movable clutch member of the device.

The preferred form of construction, as illustrated in the drawings, is applied to a railway car 5, having the usual trolley pole (S engageable with the usual trolley wire 7 Arranged within the car 5, at a place which may be readily observed by the pas sengers of the car, is an apron 9, the ends of which are wrapped upon two parallel rollers 10 and 11 rotatably mounted in a suitable housing or framework 12. The apron Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 28, 1921.

Serial No. 267,323.

9 will have arranged thereon, in proper order, the streets or stations passed by the car in the travel of the same along its route, winch streets or names are so arranged that the same may be exposed at an exposure opening provided in the front side of housing 12, as clearly seen in Fig. 2.

The rollers 10 and 11 are provided at one end with bevel gears 13 and 14, with which are adapted to mesh bevel gears 15 and 16 provided upon a sleeve 17 splined upon a shaft 18. The gears 15 and 16 are so arranged that only one of said gears will be in operative position at any one time, the arrangement being such that when the gear 16 is in mesh with gear 14, the gear 15 will be out of mesh relative to the gear 13, and vice versa. Such sl'iifting of the gears 15 and 16 is effected by means of a shifting lever 19, pivoted in the housing 12 and which is operatively connected at its inner end with the sleeve 17. The opposite end of each of the rollers 10 and 11 is provided with a crank handle 20, whereby the same may be manually rotated if desired.

The lower end of shaft 18 carries a relatively stationary clutch member 21, which is engagea'ble by a relatively movable clutch member 22 which is splined to a shaft 23 arranged co-axial with the shaft 18. The shafts 18 and 23 are held in co-axial relation by means of a plate 24 fixed to the clutch member 21, and a collar 25, which loosely embraces clutch member 22, bars 26 fixed in collar 25 slidably engaging with the plate 2 1.

The clutch member 22 is moved into and out of operative relation relative to the clutch member 21 by means of a shifting fork 27, which engages at one end with a groove 27 formed in the periphery of collar 25. Arranged directly below said clutch member is a table or stop 28 having a slot 29 in one edge thereof. Depending from the collar 25 is a pin 30 adapted, when said clutch is in lowered, inoperative or opened position, to engage with slot 29. The an rangement is such that when the clutch member 22 is moved upwardly into operative position engaging clutch member 21, the pin 80 will be moved from engagement with the slot 29. and, upon the slightest rotation of said clutch, said pin will be adapted to engage against the upper side of table 28, and thus serve to hold said clutch member 22 in operative position until said clutch member has passed through one complete rotation, that is, until said pin is again brought back to registration with the slot 29. Said pin thus serves as a means of holding the clutch member in operative position for a predetermined amount of travel, or for a predetermined movement of the apron 9, the arrangement being such that when this amount of travel has been completed, the clutch will automatically by gravity and also under the influence of a spring 41 hereinafter described, move to open or inoperative position.

Provided at the lower end of shaft 23 is a bevel gear 81 which meshes with a bevel gear 32 on a shaft 33. The latter also carries a bevel gear 34 which meshes with a bevel gear fixed to one of the axles 36 of the car in connection with which the device is employed. A. universal joint 37 is interposed in the shaft 33 to allow for relative movement between the car body and axle for distributing the connection between gears 34 and 35. Vith this arrangement it will be seen that an operative connection is established between the shaft 23 and the car axle, so that upon movement of the car the shaft 23 will be continuously rotated.

Operation of the shifting fork 27 cooperating with the movable clutch member 22 is effected by means of a bar 38 which connects with a bell crank lever 39 pivoted in the car body adjacent the roof thereof. Cooperating with lever 39 is a shiftably mounted rod 40 normally held at its rearward terminal of movement by means of a helical compression spring 41. The rearward end of rod 40 is bent upwardly, as at 42, for engagment by a bell crank lever 43 pivotally mounted upon the trolley pole 6 adjacent the lower end thereof, the arrangement being such that upon downward rocking of said lever 43, the rod 40 will be shifted forwardly to effect movement of the movable clutch member 22 into operative position. Connected with the lever 43 is also an operating bar 44 which is connected at its upper end with a bell crank lever 45 pivotally mounted at the upper end of trolley pole 6. The lever 45 is arranged for engagement with stops which will be arranged along the trolley wire 7 at predetermined points. Each of said stops comprises a transversely disposed bar 46 carried by a channel holder 47 adapted to embrace the usual trolley wire supports, set screws 48 being provided for securing thestop to said supports. A brace bar'49 projects rearwardly from the transversely extending bar 46 to lend strength and rigidity thereto. The arrangement is such that, in the travel of the car, the lever 45 will be intermittently rocked through engagement thereof with the stop members 46, such rocking of lever 45 effecting in turn the shifting of clutch member 22 to operative position. When thus shifted, said clutch member establishes connection between the axle 36 of the car and the apron 9, effecting advance of the latter. The clutch member 22 is held in operative position for a predetermined movement through engagement of the pin 30 with the table 28, so that the apron will, at each actuation of the mechanism, be moved a predetermined distancel Thus the names of the streets or stations will be successively displayed, advising the passengers beforehand of the approach of the car to the various streets or station, making it unnecessary for the conductor to call out the names, as is the practice at the present time.

The upwardly extending arm of lever 45 is preferably split at 45 so as to permit of uninterrupted rocking in a forward direction, the arrangement being such that in the event of backing up of the car said arm of said lever will yield and prevent breaking of the same, as might otherwise result. The upper end of said arm of the lever will be yieldingly held in operative position through suitable springpressure, as seen. A spring 43is provided, cooperating with the lever 43 and rod 44 to normally hold the rod 44 in elevated position and hence the lever 45 in a position to engage with the stop bars 46 in the advance of the car.

In order to permit of manual shifting of the movable clutch 22' so as to effect adjustment of the apron with relation to the street or station names displayed,a cord 48 is provided, connected with a depending arm 49 on the lever 39. The arrangement is such, as will be seen, that said lever may be actuated through pulling upon said cord and which cord may be readily and easily operated by the conductor of the car.

In the travel of the car in one direction, the apron will be caused to travel in one direction through engagement of the gear 16 with the gear 14. Upon the return travel of the car, the lever 19 will be operated to cause shifting of the gear 16 to idle position and to effect shifting of the gear 15 into mesh with gear 13. Such shifting will, of course, effect opposite movement ofthe apron so that the street names or stations will be presented in reverse order, or as the same are passed by the car on its return trip.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having described myinvention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination with a car, having a rotary axle, of a street indicator comprising a traveling apron; means for intermittently connecting said axle and said apron, com prising a continuously rotating movable clutch member having connection with said axle; a stationary clutch member having connection with said apron; a shifting collar rotatably mounted on said movable clutch member; means for intermittently tripping said movable clutch member into operative position; arms on said collar: a plate carried by said stationary clutch member With which said arms slidably engage; a pr0jection on said collar; and a table against which said projection is adapted to engage to hold said movable clutch member in operative position after being tripped into said position, said table having a slot to receive said projection, whereby said clutch Will automatically move to inoperative position after rotation ol the apron a predetermined distance, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specifier tion in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DE ELLA B, MAYBERRY. l/Vitnesses:

HELEN F. LILLIs, Rosa Kosim. 

